Car safety seats for children are commercially available in a many configurations corresponding to differences in the age, weight, and size of the child being transported. Parents can choose a car seat that is not only the correct size, but also suits their tastes, budget, and life style. As children grow in size and maturity level, they need different kinds of car seats. For example, a child may initially use a rearwardly facing infant car seat, then graduate to a forward facing toddler seat with an integrated harness, and finally to a belt positioning booster seat utilizing the vehicle's lap and shoulder belt system before being able to safely use the vehicle's seat belts alone.
There are many car seats on the market that can be used in multiple configurations. For instance, a forward facing car seat with an integral harness appropriate for a 20-40 pound child might accommodate a child weighing 30-100 pounds as a belt positioning booster seat with the removal of the harness and utilizing the vehicle's lap and shoulder belts. This is convenient for the care giver because it means fewer seats to purchase. Some parents choose to buy a belt positioning booster seat for their older child. Such a booster seat may be configured with a high back, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,682,143, granted to Davis Amirault on Jan. 27, 2004, or can have no back at all. Older children who don't want to be seen sitting in a “baby seat” like this option and parents don't have to manage a big bulky car seat.
Currently available car seats typically have a monolithic shell, i.e. the back and seat cannot be used separately. Some car seats are designed to have a no back base option, but are configured as a separate seat fastened under the monolithic seat and back, such as is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,754,999, issued on Jul. 5, 1998, to James Kain. The problem with this configuration is the redundancy of seats; one as part of the monolithic shell, and one as a seat only.
States review and regulate restraint age limits and weight requirements. With continuing age and weight increases for recommendations in car restraint safety, a variety of restraint sizes are needed to accommodate the increasing span of children needing car seat safety restraints. The shoulder height and proper placement of belt paths are critical to the safety function of car seat restraints. As the child grows the headrest area needs to accommodate their body size and move up as they grow. Some seats are used for more than one child and the head rest area needs to move up and down to fit properly with each child. Purchasing new seats as the child grows is a costly alternative. Some seats on the market have up and down head rest adjustment but they are not always obvious or easy to operate. One example of a car seat having an adjustable head rest can be found in U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,074, granted to Ronald Asbach on Sep. 23, 2003, wherein the head rest is vertically movable on the seat back with the harness straps passing through the head rest to be adjustable therewith. Another example can be found in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0225136, filed by William Horton and published on Oct. 13, 2005, in which the head rest is vertically adjustable relative to the seat back.
Children frequently fall asleep while in a car seat. The result is their head falls forward and is not adequately supported. The side supports on some child safety seats are either angled out too far to rest the head or positioned correctly but are rigid and immovable, such as is shown in the aforementioned U.S. Pat. No. 6,623,074 and U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2005/0225136. The side supports need to move in and out to accommodate differing head sizes. The side supports need to be able to move in order to rest the head while sleeping then move back out to give the child comfort and visibility while traveling. Side supports alone are not a solution to prevent the head from falling forward as the child falls asleep. The child may rest his head sideways, but the movement in the vehicle will cause the child's head to fall forward and bob uncomfortably.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,481,794, issued to Kenzou Kassai on Nov. 19, 2002, discloses a car seat having a sleeping support position controller with bearings provided on the headrest and shafts provided on the sleeping supports. Concave portions provided on the lower surfaces of the shafts engage with convex portions provided on the lower surfaces of the bearings and the coil springs inserted from above maintain this engaging state with an elastic force, thereby fixing the positions of the sleeping supports. U.S. Pat. No. 7,055,903, granted to Eugene Balensiefer on Jun. 6, 2006, discloses an adjuster for a car seat that includes a dial actuator coupled to the back support for rotational movement relative to the back support, the dial actuator actuating a lock-release mechanism of the height-adjustment mechanism and freeing the headrest for up-and-down movement relative to the seat shell. U.S. Pat. No. 6,464,294 granted on Oct. 15, 2002, to James Kain teaches a car seat having a seat back with a forwardly facing surface adapted to face toward the occupant of the seat and including a recess in the forwardly facing surface. A headrest retainer is located in the head rest recess and is configured to retain the head rest in a selected one of the lowered and raised positions relative to the seat back at the option of a user.
Head rests for automobiles are also vertically adjustable and can be provided with positionable wing members, such as in U.S. Pat. No. 6,068,337, granted to Emillio De Fillippo on May 30, 2000, for an automotive head rest that includes a framework and a pair support rods slidably coupled within the framework. Positioning notches cooperate with a pair of arms carried by a slider member movable in the framework of the headrest, in a direction perpendicular to the support rods, between an engaged position and a disengaged position. The head rest found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,806,933 issued on Sep. 15, 1998, to Leslie Tsui utilizes an elongated arm and a mounting member having an internally toothed portion adapted to engage with a radially toothed exterior portion in the arm. A position adjusting assembly for an automotive head rest having a coupling mechanism, an operating member and a connecting cable is disclosed in European Patent Publication EP 1136313 wherein the cable exerts a force on the coupling mechanism to project a locking pin into notches in the support member.
Adjustable wings for automotive hear rests are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,220,668, granted to Matthias Scheffziick on Apr. 24, 2001, in which an activation button is used to release the head rest side wings from the locked position. The pivotal connection of the side wings to the central head rest is formed of a journal having a groove and a bolt arranged within the groove. U.S. Pat. No. 6,305,749, granted on Oct. 23, 2001, and U.S. Pat. No. 6,648,416, granted on Nov. 18, 2003, both being issued to Richard O'Connor, disclose an automotive head rest in which side wings are mounted by a friction hinge having sufficient friction to maintain any of a plurality of positions under the load of a human head leaning against the wing member, but capable of yielding when a greater load is applied.
It would be desirable to provide a head rest for a car seat to be utilized in transporting a child in an automobile in which the head rest would be vertically adjustable to accommodate growth in the child and in which the side wings would be positionally adjustable through a substantial range of angular positions to enhance the comfort of the child utilizing the car seat.